Videos produced by the U.S Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and CJAC

Lawsuit Climate
Ranking 2012

41

Florida

42

Oklahoma

43

Alabama

44

New Mexico

45

Montana

46

Illinois

47

California

48

Missippi

49

Louisiana

50

West Virginia

Harris Poll

2008

►

2010

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2012

44

46

47

Ranked near the bottom. Year after year. The Harris Poll has surveyed the states' legal climates nine times. And nine times, California was found to be one of the worst.

How Bad is the Problem in California?

California’s Legal Climate Continues to Get Worse

California ranks 47th in the Institute for Legal Reform’s latest survey of the lawsuit climates in each of the 50 states, a regular assessment of state liability systems conducted by the respected, nonpartisan Harris Interactive market research firm. That’s down from 46th in the previous survey.

Making matters worse, Los Angeles, San Francisco - and the state as a whole - were among the four least-fair jurisdictions in the entire nation.

How bad is the problem? On average, more than four class action lawsuits are filed in California every day the courts are open for business. Plaintiffs’ lawyers file suit here because they know the courts are often willing to certify class actions that aren’t accepted in other states, and that our juries are more willing than most to award costly verdicts in civil cases.

The state’s continued failure to enact meaningful legal reform has a price: at a time when unemployment is near 10 percent, seven out of ten companies surveyed said the legal climate impacts decisions of where to locate, expand, and create jobs - a 13 percent increase from the survey results just five years ago.

Isn’t it time our policy makers take a hard look at meaningful legal reform?

Are You the Victim of a Frivolous Lawsuit?

Are you fighting a lawsuit that appears to be unjust, unbalanced or without merit? We want to hear from you!

Learn More

On November 2, 2004, Californians voted 59.1% to 40.9% to stop extortion lawsuits being brought by private lawyers under the state’s unique Unfair Competition Law. The victory came after a carefully crafted, $14.5 million campaign funded by an unusually broad spectrum of the business community whose members had been victims of shakedown lawsuits for years leading up to the election.